The subject matter discussed in the background section should not be assumed to be prior art merely as a result of its mention in the background section. Similarly, a problem mentioned in the background section or associated with the subject matter of the background section should not be assumed to have been previously recognized in the prior art. The subject matter in the background section merely represents different approaches, which in and of themselves may also correspond to embodiments of the claimed subject matter.
Vectored DSL technology aids in mitigating crosstalk effects that degrade performance in deployments of DSL lines operating at high speeds. Crosstalk may be a significant noise source in multi-pair copper cables used for DSL transmission. High speed DSL deployments, such as those with VDSL, are particularly vulnerable to crosstalk for both the downstream and the upstream transmission directions; data rates being limited typically by Far-End-Crosstalk (FEXT). When multiple DSL line pairs share, the same cable they induce crosstalk into each other which negatively affects performance.
Vectored DSL uses advanced signal processing techniques to mitigate crosstalk and thus, improve performance. However, where mitigation techniques may be further improved, additional performance gains are possible. Moreover, mixed deployments of vectored and non-vectored DSL lines are common in the field, and as such, not all lines within a particular cable participate in a vectoring scheme. These non-participating lines escape application of beneficial crosstalk mitigation techniques through vectoring and yet, these non-vectored lines may nevertheless negatively affect the operation of the vectored lines due to, for example, crosstalk coupling onto the vectored lines. Crosstalk cancellation is only performed among the lines within a “vectored group,” and if there are multiple distinct vectored groups then the crosstalk between groups may negatively affect operation.
The present state of the art may therefore benefit from systems and methods for managing deployments of mixed vectored and non-vectored DSL and deployments of multiple vectored groups using communication technologies including VDSL as is described herein.